Paper-making machinery



Patented Apr. 23, 1889.

N. PETERS, Pmunumphar. wzmingm. D.

l esse@ i "UNITED VSTATES'Pnrniwr OFFICE.

SAMUEL WILMOT, OF LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS.

PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 401,917, dated .April 23, 1889.

Application led June 25, 1888.

.To dZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL WILMOT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lockport, in the county of Will'and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Paper-Making Machinery, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates particularly to an improvement .in the construction of the cylinder-vats of paper-making machinery, and,

while itmay be employed with advantage in paper-making machinery generally, it is more especially designed for use in machines for the manufacture of paper from wheat or other straw, and I therefore describe my improvement in connection with machinery of that particular class. i

The cylinder-vat to which my improvement relates is the receptacle into which the paperstock' is introduced after mixture withwater to reduce it to the proper consistency, and in which are located cylinders that gather the pulp and form it into wet paper, whence it is transferred to the felts. As heretofore commonly constructed the cylinder-vat consisted merely of a box or receptacle in which the wire-cloth cylinder or cylinders revolved, the Vat having a drainage-opening at the bottom. Notwithstanding the Washing to which the pulp is subjected before it reaches the vat containing the cylinders, a certain quantity of foreign matter, which would streak or otherwise deleteriously affect the paper, remains mixed with the pulp and is gathered up by the cylinders. Moreover, in the reduction of straw, and especially wheat straw, to paperstock, the knots, which are tougher than the balance of the stalk, tend to resist the action of the grinders. The knots left unground, unless abstracted from the pulp, also tend injuriously to affect the quality of the paper.

The foreign substances and knots above referred to are vgenerally heavier than the paperstock or half-stuff, as it is also termed, and will settle to the bottom of the vat, so that to preventv their accumulating in large quantities, and thus lessen the danger of their being picked up by the revolving cylinders, it has been necessary to drain and scour the vat several times each day. These operations waste a large quantity of paper-stock, as a great deal SeralNo. 278,098. (No model.)

of good material has to be sacriced in draining o the deleterious matter. It has also been necessary at each cleaning of the vat to shut Vdown the entire machine while the draining and scouring were being performed, thereby entailing considerable loss in consequence of `the reduction of theout-put of the mill.

My object is to provide a cylinder-vat for a paper-making machine, by the use of which the operation of cleaning may be accomplished with but little loss of paper-stock and without the necessity of stopping the machinery, whereby the process of paper-making may proceed without interruption.

To this end my invention consists in the general construction of my improved machine 'and in details of construction and combinations of parts, all as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

The drawing shows a vertical section of a pulp-vat of my improved construction.

A is the vat, having traps or settlingboxes B and raised compartments or cylinder-vats C. The traps and cylinder-vats each extend, preferably, entirely across the vat A, the bottoms of the cylinder-vats being raised above the ilooroa of the vatA to alford a horizontal passage, q, between them. Vertical passages p, arranged, preferably, as shown, eX- tend from the passage q to the height of the cylinder-vats. The passages q and p form a conduit through which a supply of pulp is directed to the vats C, as hereinafter described. The cylinder-vats C are each provided at the upper edges of the sides, adjacent t0 their respective passages p, with gates D, which latter are raised and lowered to open and close by means of racks and pinions o, operated by winches.- (Not shown.) l

n is a partition rising from the floor of the vat A to a point some distance below the top of the vat and provided at its lower edge with a sliding gate, n. m is another partition extending from the top of the vat A to a point in line with the flows of the cylinder-vat-s. A passage, p, intervenes between the partitions n and fm.

The pulp enters from the mixing-trough or reservoir W, and, filling the rst trap B, rises until it overflows the partition fn, the gate n being down.l It thence flows to and lls the IOO second and third traps B and passage q, and, rising in the passages p, the gates D being open, it fills the cylinder-vats C. The wirecloth cylinders X, of common construction, revolve and form the wet paper in the usual manner and deposit it upon the wet felts Y, which travel between the cylinders and couch-rolls Z and over the latter to the wetpress rolls. (Not shown.) As the pulp flows to the cylinder-vats, the greater part of the foreign substances and knots before mentioned settle in the traps B, so that comparatively little deleterious material ever reaches the cylinder-vats. The traps are each provided near their bases with outlets I, controlled by valves, (not shown),through which the material at the bottom of the traps may be drawn off from time to time and passed through a grinding-machine especially dessigned for disintegrating knots, after which the material may be turned into the Vat and utilized, the foreign matter being caught in the traps, as before.

Vhile very little deleterious material escapes the traps, it is nevertheless necessary occasionally, though not by any means as frequently as where my improved apparatus is not employed, to cleanse the cylinder-vats. By means of my improved construction each of the vats may be drained and scoured independently Without necessitating stoppage of the machinery or interference with the operation of the other vat or vats. The said cylinderfats are each provided with a drainageoutlet, k, opened and closed by means of a valve. (Not shown.) To facilitate the drainage of the vat-s, their sides are made to converge, and thus diminish the Width of the vats as they approach the bottoms, as shown. The bottoms, furthermore, incline from the opposite sides ofthe vats to the outlets 7c. Owing to the nature of the view selected, this last feature of my improved construction is not shown in the drawing. It is thought, however, that the description renders the construction sufficiently comprehensive.

To accomplish the cleaning of any one of the cylinder-vats, its respective gate D is closed, thereby shutting off the supply of pulp, which in practice would never rise above a few inches below the top of the gate when the latter is closed. The vat is then drained of The pulp which is drawn olf maybe allowed to iiow into a trap or settling-reservoir provided for the purpose, and what is good thereof saved and utilized.

About once a week, ordinarily, it is desira ble to cleanse the settling-boxes or traps B and passages q and p, and to do this it becomes necessary to shut down the entire machine. lhe outlets Z are opened and the traps and passages drained of their contents, after which the gate n is opened by sliding it upward and a hose inserted, by means of which the passages and traps are freely cleaned by flushing.

IVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In apaper-making machine, the combination of the pulp-reservoir W, cylinders X, separate cylinder-vats C, provided with controllable outlets 7c, conduits leading'to said vats, and gates D, whereby one vat may be filled or emptied independently of the other orothers, substantially as described.

2. In a paper-making machine, the combination of a vat, A, cylinders X, separate cylinder-vats C, provided with controllable outlets 7c, supported within the vat A above its floor and forming a passage, q, passages p, and gates D, substantially as described.

3. In apaper-making machine, the combination of cylinders X and independent cylinder-vats C, having inlet-gates D and controllable outlets 7c, the side walls of the vats converging toward said' outlets, substantially as described.

4. In a paper-making machine, the combination of the pulp-reservoir W, cylinders X, cylinder-vats C, and suitable conduits leading from the pulp-reservoir to the cylinder-vats provided with traps or settling-boxes, substantially as described.

5. In a paper-making machine, the combination of a pulp-reservoir, a vat, A, cylinders X, cylinder-vats C, provided with controllable outlets k, supported within the vat A above its i'loor and forming a passage, q, passages p, partitions m and n, gates D and n', and traps or settling-boxes B, having controllable outlets Z, substantially as described.

' SAMUEL WILM OT.

In presence of- J. IV. DYRENFORTH, M. J. BOWERS. 

